The Glenmorangie Signet

At the end of the eighth century AD, on a windy peninsula in the far North East of Scotland, one of the most significant pieces of early European sculpture, the Hilton of Cadboll Stone, was being carefully carved by the Picts.

Centuries later, battered by time and half destroyed, the original stone was relocated to the National Museum in Scotland for safe keeping. The highly skilled carvings on the Cadboll Stone would come to inspire our brand emblem, motivating us to commission Barry Grove, a local sculptor, to recreate the stone by hand with a hammer and chisel.

Work began on this enormous slab of sandstone in 2000, but it would take Barry over four years of painstaking labour before the sculpture, a testament to the skill of both the ancient Pictish and modern day Scottish people, could be re-installed on its original location, on Glenmorangie Distillery land.

Perfection in Mind

We've always realised that pursuing perfection is rather a long journey. We just know it's a trip worth making.

The Tallest Stills

Our stills are the tallest in Scotland. Their long copper necks stand at 5.14 metres (16ft 10 1/4 inches), the same height as a fully grown adult giraffe! Which means that only the very lightest and purest vapours make it to the top, giving a smoother, more elegant whisky.

We Only Use Our Casks Twice

At Glenmorangie we select the finest oak casks in which to mature our whisky. But that's not all, because we then only use each one twice for Original (whilst many others use their up to five or six times), ensuring that the maximum amount of flavour is always extracted during maturation, delivering a rounder, smoother taste.

Pioneers In Extra Maturation

Having pioneered extra maturation over 20 years ago, our whisky creators continue to travel the world in their search for exceptional casks. Casks that will provide additional, intriguing layers of flavours to the original character of Glenmorangie.

Elegant but full bodied this whisky has spent ten years maturing in American white oak ex-bourbon casks before being extra-matured for a further two years in Oloroso and PX Sherry butts from Jerez in Spain.

The darkest and most intense whisky in the extra-matured range, Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban has spent 10 years maturing in American white oak casks, before being transferred into specially selected ruby port pipes from the Quintas or wine estates of Portugal.

Glenmorangie - The Men of Tain

Meet the Men of Tain, the select craftsmen entrusted with the secrets of our distillery. Men whose dedication, skill and attention to detail proves that the Glenmorangie story is not just about whisky, it's also about people.

A Dram For A Difficult Job

There was a time when the Men of Tain would queue up for a daily dram of whisky with their lunch. Huddled together they would pass around a metal cup - blackened through constant use - and share a joke at the expense of one of the lads. This tradition, as well as the practice of handing out an extra dram for unpopular jobs like cleaning out the washback, is still fondly remembered by some of our more long serving men. Perhaps a little too fondly you might say.

Local History

The Cadboll Stone

In the year 297AD, the Romans discovered a proud and free race ruling in the North-East of Scotland.

The Romans called them Picts - the painted people - because they decorated their bodies with inks and pigments. On their skins they depicted the sweeping lines of the landscape, the colours of the heavens and nature's Aurora Borealis: a dazzling display of red, green and violet that arcs and flickers in the night sky.

These people cultivated the very same golden fields that surround our Highland home, fields where we today harvest the barley that becomes our malt. And it was here, in an open glade that borders the sea, that the Picts carved their story into the Cadboll Stone. An ancient treasure that, with its intricate, highly skilled carvings, has become the inspiration for our signet and the perfect symbol of our brand

The Tarlogie Springs

The Tarlogie Springs, Glenmorangie's own water source and most prized asset, is the product of rain that has been forcing its way through layers of limestone and sandstone for a hundred years. These natural minerals give it its 'hard' water qualities and provide Glenmorangie with a raw ingredient unique amongst Highland distilleries. Our ancient ancestors drank here, considering the pure, mineral-rich waters of the Springs to be sacred. We think they're pretty special too!